Category Archives: 2015

Come 31st October 2015, ONE (SINGAPORE) will celebrate 10 years of our campaign to Make Poverty History! Wear your best 1960’s cheong sams, saris and sarong kebayas and join us at the historic Hotel Fort Canning for a night to remember!

Most ONE (SINGAPORE) supporters now know that every few seconds, a child dies completely unnecessarily from extreme poverty. But did you also realise that 1 in 10 Singaporeans lack basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter and other essential necessities?

ONE (SINGAPORE) is the only charity in Singapore that addresses both local and global issues affecting people and planet.

For the past ten years, ONE (SINGAPORE) has worked to raise awareness and take concrete actions to address local and global poverty issues. When we first began this campaign, the word ‘poverty’ – at least in the local context – was taboo. Since then, we’ve held public forums to discuss rising inequality, human trafficking, violence against women, discrimination & xenophobia, maternal health and international efforts to adopt a new set of global development and sustainability goals. And the ‘P’ word is no longer off limits.

As we write this, students at Republic Polytechnic and Singapore Polytechnic (some of whom attended our lectures in the Social Innovation Project) are preparing to lead The ONE Food Drive 2015. A year ago, The ONE Food Drive raised $14,000 worth of in-kind donations for Willing Hearts, a local soup kitchen that provides nearly 5,000 meals daily to marginalised Singaporeans. We’re placing this year’s campaign in context with a conversation on campus entitled ‘What does Poverty Mean in Singapore?’.

We’re conducting poverty seminars and volunteer outings with corporates, who have funded more than 25 scholarships for girls in Nepal, financial support and mentoring for low-income Singaporean students and food and in-kind assistance for nearly 350 local elderly and low-income families. (Want to participate? Ask us about the CAP, the Concrete Actions Programme!) Proceeds from partners at The ONE Ball 2013 helped provide a fresh coat of paint and colourful murals in the homes of xx of our neighbours-in-need. And we’re launching a Volunteer Befrienders programme to assist individuals in ways that the Family Service Centres can not.

The continued success of ONE (SINGAPORE)’s campaign depends upon you. Please consider purchasing a table (or two!) or becoming a sponsor of The ONE Ball.

If you or your organisation would like to become a partner or sponsor for The ONE Ball 2015, please contact ShuQi at shuqi@onesingapore.org.

As world leaders are set to adopt a new set of Global Sustainable Development Goals this week to Leave No One Behind and ensure Dignity for All, the rights and plight of migrants – who now constitute more than 3 percent of the global population – must be addressed.

International migration lies at the core of globalisation. Women, men and children leave their homes – sometimes voluntarily, sometimes not – to escape poverty, inequalities, discrimination and the effects of climate change. While seeking a better life, what they find is often starkly different.

Join ONE (SINGAPORE) and SMU Wee Kim Wee Centre on Monday 28 September to learn more about migration and the economic, social and cultural challenges associated with it.

On the eve of a major UN Summit, when world leaders will adopt 17 new Sustainable Development Goals, join us to #LightTheWay for the #GlobalGoals on Thursday 24 September from 5.30PM to 8.00PM! We can End Poverty, Inequalities and Climate Change. But we must let world leaders know that we care and will hold them to their promises.

Climate change affects both men and women, but disproportionately affects communities that are already impoverished and do not bear the bulk of the responsibility for climate change. Plus, 70% of the world’s impoverished are women. Women face social, economic and political barriers that largely prevent them from coping with the threat of climate change, but also prevent them from taking part in crucial decision-making processes to combat global warming. For the United Nation’s International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, join us for a panel discussion with leading female scientists on climate change to learn more about global warming and its wide-reaching impacts on impoverished communities. This event is organised in partnership with Singapore Committee of UN Women and generously hosted by the Science Centre. (FREE Admission)

Credit Suisse volunteered with ONE (SINGAPORE) and The Foodbank Singapore last Saturday to distribute food bundles and clean the houses of beneficiaries at Moral Senior Activity Centre. Thank you Credit Suisse for participating in our Concrete Actions Programme to Make Poverty History!

Young girls perish every day in the brothels of India, from murder, suicide and diseases like HIV/AIDS. It is estimated that more than 10,000 girls are trafficked from Nepal to India annually, cruelly driven over the border by force or lured by the false promise of work. They are forced to sleep with more than fifty men per day, locked into rooms or cages where they are beaten, starved, drugged, burned and raped. The average age of a Nepali girl trafficked to India is 13 years old. A mere 1% of these sex slaves ever escape or are rescued. Untouchable: Children of God is a powerful film that explores the lives of young girls particularly vulnerable to sex trafficking in India and Nepal. Join us for a fantastic documentary and discussion on human trafficking and explore opportunities to tackle these issues!

You may pledge food bundles via The Food Bank Singapore. Proceeds benefit The Food Bank Singapore and the ONE (SINGAPORE) campaign to Make Poverty History.

NOTE: On the donation page under the field “Organisation/Address”,

if you are from Republic Polytechnic, please list your school name in that field. Otherwise, please list ONE (SINGAPORE) to help us keep track of your donation. Detailed instructions found here.

Click here to donate online!

The Foodbank Singapore
acquires donated food, much of which would otherwise be wasted, from farms, manufacturers, distributors, retail stores, consumers, and other sources, and makes it available to those in need through a network of members beneficiaries.

Their vision is to be the prevailing centralized coordinating organization for all food donations and to play a key role in the reduction of food wastage within the whole supply chain.

Food Donation

Panel Discussion

Click here or the poster below to sign up for the panel discussion. Kindly note that this event is only open to Singapore Polytechnic students and faculty.

1 in 10 Singaporeans lack basic necessities such as clothing, food and shelter. In line with action2015’s global day of mobilisation to end hunger and promote nutrition, Corporate Executive Board volunteered with ONE (SINGAPORE) and The Foodbank Singapore to distribute food bundles and clean the houses of beneficiaries at Moral Senior Activity Centre.

Singapore is one of the safest places in the world to give birth. But mothers in many other countries are not so fortunate. Please join us for the screening and discussion of ‘No Woman, No Cry’ this Saturday 21 March at 3.00PM at SIM University. This film is a powerful documentary about maternal health and the challenges faced by pregnant women in four parts of the world: a remote Maasai tribe in Tanzania, a slum of Bangladesh, a post-abortion care ward in Guatemala, and a prenatal clinic in the United States.

Following the film, there will be three speakers that will share more about the issue:

Chua Yang, a gynaecologist who founded Global Clinic to help women in remote parts of the world,

Arul Chib, a NTU professor who advocates for the use of mobile technologies in developing countries to improve maternal health and

Bernice Wong, a photographer who will share insights from working on a documentary on maternal deaths in Cambodia. RSVP now!

ONE (SINGAPORE), in partnership with The Mill x WeJungle, presents Colour Rave: Paint Out Poverty on Saturday 31 January, 2pm to 11pm.
This event does not require any prior registration. The activities are child-friendly, so feel free to bring along the young for a fun-filled Saturday!